The present invention relates to an exposure method and an exposure apparatus which will reproduce patterns very precisely by adjusting such optical characteristics as magnification, focal distance and the like caused by the changing environmental conditions such as atmospheric pressure, temperature and humidity.
Photolithography is generally utilized in the manufacture of semiconductor devices such as IC's and LSI's, and patterns for reticles and photomasks are transferred onto the surfaces of an original photomask board and semiconductor wafer relying upon photographic techniques. A recent tendency has been to further reduce the size of pattern to be transferred accompanying the trend toward fabricating smaller element patterns for semiconductor devices in toward fabricating semiconductor devices more densely. Therefore, an exposure apparatus of the type of with a reduction proportion of 1:5, (or reduction ratio of 1/5) or deduction proportion of 1:10 (or reduction ratio of 1/10) has been much used in optical systems for transferring patterns.
A widely known exposure apparatus used for the manufacture of semiconductor devices has been disclosed in a journal Denshi Zairyo, Y. Kamata, S. Nakase, "Light Exposure Apparatus", November, 1983, separate volume, pp. 97-104, esp. pp. 97-98.